It may be the basis of all job applications, but the résumé is often tricky to perfect. It isn’t easy to select what experiences to include as a showcase of your abilities, and how to present them in a concise manner, suitable for each individual role.
In 2026, amid the rapid escalation of AI as a job application tool, it’s arguably easier than ever to pull together a résumé. And as the barriers to entry are reduced by the helping hand of these platforms, we can expect to see increasing numbers of applicants per job. This, coupled with an increasingly challenging fashion jobs market after rounds of layoffs, hiring freezes and restructurings in response to the macroeconomic environment, means there’s more applicants going for fewer roles. So if there ever was a time to make your résumé stand out against the masses, it’s right now.
For many, the fashion résumé is even more daunting: the traditional, corporate résumé structure can feel limiting to creative applicants being tasked with folding their creative selves into a single page. However, there are strategies — like using your portfolio as a showcase while keeping the résumé lean — that can make the writing process more bearable.
Curate a tailored snapshot of your skills
In any industry, the guiding principle of résumé writing is that less is more. “A résumé is not meant to be comprehensive, it’s only meant to be a snapshot of your skills,” says Marisa LoBianco, director of career and professional development at the Pratt Institute. LoBianco says students often find paring down their experience especially challenging — they want to showcase everything, in fear that forgoing one experience might lose them the job.
Carla Carstens, a fashion and beauty career coach, urges that a résumé should not be solely a professional summary. “New graduates feel compelled to include their summer job, their one-week shadowing placement, and a plethora of other jobs unrelated to what they’re applying for. A résumé isn’t a record of your life; it’s an argument for why you’re the right candidate for this specific role,” says Carstens, who says that most of the résumés she sees are “horoscope résumés” — “vague enough to apply to anyone”.
Phrases such as “involved in”, “part of a team that”, and “helped with” are all hallmarks of the horoscope résumé. So are taglines such as “results-driven professional with a passion for innovation,” which Carstens calls especially unconvincing from someone fresh out of college. Instead, applicants should be specific about what they did, not what the company or their team does, she explains.
Even without access to business outcomes or metrics, students or fresh grads can take a cue from swaps such as: “Coordinated sample trafficking and showroom logistics for the FW24 press day across womenswear and accessories,” which is specific and shows you understand what you were part of; versus “assisted the PR team with press days and sample management,” which reads as generic.
Lean into coursework
One of the most common challenges that students and new grads face is a lack of experience. Millie de la Valette, head of creative talent acquisition at Louis Vuitton, doesn’t expect graduates to submit résumés that are packed with experiences, and spends more time examining portfolios. Often, she doesn’t mind if applicants’ work experience is near zero — this is where their coursework comes in handy.
The upside for young designers is that previous internship experience is less relevant than they might think: skills developed in coursework are extremely valuable when communicated thoughtfully within the portfolio. Baron Osuna, who runs early-career mentorship programs at LVMH, suggests that candidates shouldn’t limit their portfolios to “beautiful styling pictures, like a magazine”. Instead, it should feel more personal and in depth. “Show your drawings, how you think, where you take your inspirations, your mood boards, something with more depth and grit.”
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